Protective strip assemblies which use resilient strip materials are well known in the art, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,103,596, 5,110,650, 4,083,592 and 4,808,451 and the patents cited therein. Protective strip assemblies which incorporate coextrusion technology are also known in the art as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No, 5,2183,096. Such protective strip assemblies include a metal or plastic channel or other mounting member covered by a separate protective strip of resilient material, such as plastic or rubber. The mounting member is generally rectangular in cross-section and attaches to a substrate to be protected, such as drywall. The resilient rubber strip, in turn, attaches to the mounting member and partially or completely surrounds the mounting portion. The resilient strip typically engages the mounting member along the two longitudinal edges, e.g., the top and bottom edges, of the mounting member, through a variety of hook and latch combinations.
Such conventional bumper rail assemblies are commonly two piece assemblies, including a protective bumper and a separate mounting member. Such two piece designs suffer from a number of drawbacks. First, the two piece assembly is difficult to effectively install and, therefore, installation is quite time-consuming. The installer must first affix the mounting member to the surface to be protected, and then must fasten the protective bumper or covering to the mounting member. For effective installation and protection, the protective bumper must "lock" to the mounting member at two locations, generally along the top and bottom edges of the mounting member. Because of the multiple locking sites, the resilient bumpers must be manufactured with strict tolerances to ensure a properly snug fit to the mounting member. If tight tolerances are not maintained, the resilient bumper will either be too large and readily disengage from the mounting structure, or will be too small and may not be able to be installed at all or will readily disengage when impacted. Tight tolerances are particularly difficult to maintain over long length runs of resilient material. Thus, there is a high percentage of scrap due to the manufacturer's inability to maintain the required tolerances.
One piece protective bumper railings are also known in the art. They are less time-consuming to install, but are fabricated from rigid materials and overcome only some of the shortcomings of the more conventional two piece protective bumper assemblies. One such one piece railing, Acrovyn's FR-125 feature rail, is made from a high impact vinyl acrylic extrusion.
Neither the two piece protective bumper systems nor the one piece rigid bumper railings known in the prior art permit a flush fit of the protective portion of the bumper to the surface to be protected. When the prior art bumpers are installed, there is a gap between the surface to be protected, generally a wall, and the most rearward surface of the protective strip covering. This gap is a receptacle for crumbs the like and thus provides a breeding point for bacteria.
Prior art protective bumper systems also have poor radius capabilities. When the two piece bumper systems are employed on curved surfaces, special mounting members must be constructed or special processes used; and even so the resilient protective covering of a two piece bumper system tends to flatten out or collapse due to its flexibility when it is used on a curved surface. One piece prior art bumpers typically cannot be used on many curved surfaces at all; the bumper's rigid material makes radiused applications virtually impossible.
Prior art bumper systems also are cumbersome to ship. Although the resilient protective stirps featured in the prior art can be coiled and shipped in fairly long runs, the channel mounting members and one piece bumpers are rigid and must be cut and shipped in lengths. Because the rigid one piece bumpers are cut and shipped in relative short lengths, there are periodic, undesirable seams when the product is installed.
There is thus a need for a one piece bumper that can overcome these shortcomings of the prior art protective bumper railings.